Back to search results » | Back to search page » |
![]() ![]() |
LocationHAWTHORN, BOROONDARA CITY LevelIncluded in Heritage Overlay |
|
Precinct Character and significance
The Central Gardens Precinct was identified by the 'Hawthorn Heritage
Study' (M Gould, 1993), originally as a larger precinct that included
Auburn Village (which now is a separate precinct, HO260). A half-page
precinct citation is found in section 4.2.11 (page 88) of Volume 1 of
that report, which addressed both parts of the proposed precinct. It
is reproduced here:
Central Gardens/Auburn Village Precinct.
Representative of the growth of Hawthorn as a Victorian -Garden
Suburb 1856-1900, particularly the growth of Commercial Shopping
centres, transport and Workers Cottages and associated Industrial area.
The Auburn Road Shopping centre developed in direct response to the
terminal railway station here. The railway and service activities
required workers housing nearby and in turn these facilities
generated the provision of a major formal park.
The Central Gardens/Auburn Road Precinct is significant at the
State level for the exceptional, high quality, Victorian shopping
precinct. At the local level it is significant for the illustration
of workers housing, required to service the shopping centre and the
railways and for the development of Municipal facilities at Central Park.
Common Characteristics
- Generally small attached row houses or detached repetitive row
house forms.
- Shops, large attached shop-and-dwelling form in repetitive units.
- Small front garden setbacks and small/no side setbacks to residences.
- No setbacks to shops.
- Small variable allotments.
- Driveways not generally used. Concealed car access from lanes.
- Fences to residences 1.2m - 1. 4m high visually permeable.
- Residences single storey generally, two storey rarely.
- Shops, three storey or two storey.
- Roof forms secondary to wall features. Parapets or hipped roof
forms generally slate or corrugated galvanised steel.
- Simple plan forms.
- Verandahs typical for residences. Posts supported verandahs to
some shops now missing.
- Walls brick or render to shops. Generally weatherboard to houses.
- Timber windows.
A stand-alone statement of significance was prepared for The Central
Gardens Precinct (HO146) as part of the 'Review of Heritage Overlay
Precinct Citations' (Lovell Chen, 2006). It reads as follows:
The Central Gardens Precinct, Hawthorn, is an area of heritage
significance for the following reasons:
- The place is characterised by modest Victorian brick and timber
workers' houses (either attached or detached), most dating from the
1880s and 1890s, some of which were constructed to accommodate
employees working at the newly constructed railway terminal adjacent
to Auburn Road. Later housing within the area includes interesting
examples of small scale and duplex Bungalow variants.
- The place includes the Central Gardens parkland, demonstrating
the practice of providing municipal facilities in areas of workers' housing.
This is reflected in the current extent and valued buildings within
the precinct. Central Park is the largest element of the precinct, and
it is bordered to the north and east by rows of modest, mainly
Victorian, dwellings. The precinct stretches east, nearly to Auburn
Road, along Selbourne and Allen streets. Selbourne Street contains
mainly single-fronted Victorian timber cottages as well as a few
Edwardian attached dwellings. Allen Street has building only along the
north side, facing the railway line to the south, which are mostly
single-fronted Victorian timber cottages.
Extension character
Set between these two streets, running east from the park, is
Malmsbury Street. In the 'Hawthorn Heritage Study' (Gould, 1993), a
number of the house this street were given a 'C' grade (Contributory):
numbers 3, 2 & 4, and 10-18. It appears that the double-fronted
brick Victorian house once at No. 3 has been renumbered as No. 1. There is a semi-detached pair of brick double-fronted California
Bungalows at Nos. 2 & 4, and a row of single-fronted timber
Victorian cottages at Nos. 10-18 by a single builder of the type also
seen on Selbourne and Allen streets in HO146. Note that the
semi-detached houses at Nos. 2 & 4 are an example of the 'duplex
Bungalow variants' noted as Contributory in the 2006 precinct
statement of significance. Malmsbury Street makes a jog to the south after No. 18. As shown on
the 1903 MMBW plan, this is a remnant of the junction between the
original, slightly skewed course of Malmsbury Street running west from
Auburn Road and the later eastern half which has a wider and more
regular path. Further to the east, where the street curves southward, there is a
row of non-identical double-fronted timber houses at Nos. 20-28.
Nearly all of them appear to have alterations to their verandah
detail, either early in the 20th century or as recent restorations.
The exception being the Edwardian double-fronted house at No. 20
(built shortly after the 1903 MMBW map). Of particularly interest is
the cottage at No. 26 whose rooflines suggest that it is an early
house in the area (c1860s). By 1903, it already had two distinct
wings: the two front rooms below the low-pitched transverse hipped
roof, and behind it a larger space set beneath two parallel hips
(there is also a more recent, two-storey extension behind this). The
house beside it at No. 28 has a similar low-pitch hipped section at
the front, and may have been built at the same time. On the north side of Malmsbury Street, apart from the double-fronted
brick house at No. 3, there is a group of Victorian single-fronted
houses at Nos. 9-15. They comprise a bichrome brick semi-detached pair
with a transverse gable roof and a pair of timber cottages that were
once identical (No. 9 and 11 were demolished in 2018). The lack of a
party wall between the roofs of Nos. 13 & 15 indicates that they
were built prior to the mid-1880s, when stricter building regulations
were imposed. There is also late 20th-century development on this side
of the street, at Nos. 1-1A & 5-7, which has infilled allotments
that were vacant in 1903.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the housing stock in the proposed precinct extension
along Malmsbury Street contains a high percentage of houses that would
be Contributory to HO146 Central Gardens Precinct: 17 out of a total
23 properties, or 74 percent. These houses are potentially
Contributory as they fall under the two groups set out in the 2006
statement of significance: 'modest Victorian brick and timber workers'
houses (either attached or detached)' and 'interesting examples of
small scale and duplex Bungalow variants'. The early houses at Nos. 26
and 28 are of particular interest, as they predate most other
development in the precinct, which dates from the 1880s and 1890s. The Non-contributory property at 30 Malmsbury Street has been
included in the proposed extension as it bridges the gap between the
HO146 extension and HO260 Auburn Village Precinct. If in the Heritage
Overlay, future development on this site can be managed while taking
into account potential impacts on the two precincts. Postscript: after the above precinct extension assessment was
completed, two Contributory-grade houses, at 9 and 11 Malmsbury
Street, were demolished. For this reason, they have been downgraded to
Non-contributory on the gradings map and in the gradings schedule.
For a full list of individual place gradings within the precinct,
please refer to the attached PDF citation, or individual child
records attached to this parent record.
Urban Area
Boundary Feature